ICUMS helps gov’t exceed revenue targets

Chairman of the Implementation Team of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), Emmanuel Ohene, has disclosed that government exceeded its revenue target in August and November, 2020 from Ghana's ports.

This, he attributed to the introduction of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) at the ports.

“Tema collection in this month of November has exceeded its target. In August, ICUMS was responsible for Revenue target being exceeded,” he said.

Speaking on Eye on Port, Emmanuel Ohene who doubles as the Assistant Commissioner of Customs in charge of the Accra Sector Command stated that “this is worth noting considering the negative impact of the coronavirus on the global shipping business.”

According to him, an amount of GH¢1.2 billion was realized monthly since the introduction of ICUMS.

The AC also revealed that ICUMS has been able to integrate successfully with the Drivers Vehicle Licensing Authority nationwide, despite the difficulties associated with acquiring historical data.

He added that in excess of 7000 tracking devices have been provided by ICUMS for the monitoring of transit cargo, and that the temporary escorts on transit cargoes have stopped.

Mr. Ohene disclosed that the rolling out of the second phase of ICUMS, is expected to be done by the first quarter of 2021.

He implored the trading public to be optimistically patient for the Integrated Customs Management to fix the little challenges that has prevented users from experiencing the full benefits of this groundbreaking electronic system.

The Assistant Commissioner indicated that the Integrated Customs Management in itself also has its own checks and balances on supervising officers at the various points of operations in the system ensuring that no undue delays come up as a result of officers' bad behaviours.

“There's a performance management system in the ICUMS which monitors how long one keeps a declaration or not,” he added.